Israel's massive Gaza offensive could end within days after an army assessment found that it had sharply reduced Palestinian militants' ability to fire rockets into the Jewish state, political sources said today.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to convene a meeting of top security officials later in the day to discuss results of the weeklong campaign in which 75 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed.
Earlier the United States vetoed a draft United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate end to Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.
A total of 11 nations voted in favour in the 15-member council last night, but Britain, Germany and Romania abstained, and US Ambassador John Danforth exercised his veto power by voting "no".
The draft resolution would have reaffirmed support for the nearly dormant "road map" for Middle East peace and demanded "the immediate cessation of all military operations in the area of northern Gaza" and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The report came after at least 75 people, many of whom were civilians, were killed. The dead include a four-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl who was shot at least 20 times by Israeli forces.
The Israeli government have justified the massive raid pointing to the deaths of two Israeli children in a rocket attack on Israel last week.
Britain, Germany and Russia attempted to get a last minute compromise by adding some amendments but the effort failed.
Mr Danforth told the council before the vote that the resolution was "lopsided and unbalanced," lacked credibility and deserved a "no" vote.
He said the resolution did not mention even one of the 450 Qassam rocket attacks launched against Israel over the past two years, 200 this year alone.
"When the rest of the world gangs up on Israel with an insidious silence on terrorism, it does not advance the cause of peace," Mr Danforth claimed.